Michael & Smallville & Misha at DragonCon! Part 2

Michael always gives fans great stories to tell at Cons. I've seen people tweeting excitedly that he sang to them, loved their costumes, jumped into their photos. But my favourite fan encounter was told by Michael himself at a panel. The Marriott hotel has glass elevators that overlook the lobby. Michael described getting into an elevator, a fan noticing him and doing a double take. His eyes met Michael's. Then the elevator started to rise and Michael said that they still didn't break eye contact - the elevator's sailing up 40 floors, the fan is craning his neck upwards and Michael is staring down at him. (Very Lex-like of him!)

These cuties invite you in!

I went to three Supernatural panels and a Mark Sheppard solo panel. I've seen two previous MS panels and he never fails to be entertaining.

This is the first time I've seen Misha. He's a very engaging guest, seeming just as excited as the fans to have photos taken with them. He was popping up all over the place. miss_mcelroy and I saw him wandering around the main autograph hall, unnoticed by anyone but us. We were very curious where he was going - to Michael's table to make fandom explode? To Carrie Fisher's table for a kiss and some glitter? No! He went to True Blood hottie Joe Manganiello's table and chatted animatedly with him for some minutes. Later he walked by complicat and I sitting on the floor and I noticed that he has a surprisingly curvy, almost womanly, ass. Shame it gets hidden under Castiel's trenchcoat.

Misha and Mark together are a duet of flippancy - throw Jim Beaver in and it's a circus. But there is one subject on which they are deadly serious. A fan stood up and asked about Mark Harmon and all three guys suddenly got all reverent and man-crushy. Jim Beaver says MH is the perfect show leader, Mark ladled praise all over him and Misha gave his sole non-sarcastic answer of the weekend to jump in to praise Harmon as well. Who knew? The Harmon fangirl was rapturously pleased.

Michael had a solo panel on Sunday. A solo panel for Michael always means he brings best buddy Chris onstage too. During the SV panel, he often looked offstage to Chris, who seems to function as security blanket. I can understand that - Chris seems like a very calming person. He doesn't talk much, but is very measured when he does, very observant.

This time, Michael brought other friends along too, Joe, and Laura V!

Michael said that the "creatives" (ie show producers) wanted him back on SV, but the network was indifferent. He was nervous to return to the set, worried that he wouldn't remember how to play Lex. However he was quickly reassured. "Tom gave me a big hug & said "I missed you man! It was genuine....it was really sweet." He said it took him five hours to watch the finale because he had to keep pausing while his friend Joe explained the plot points he'd missed. "Lex has a sister?!"

Michael & Chris talked about Chris's visits to the SV set. Chris remembers a scene on the football field with lots of extras (probably Devoted) and Michael saying "we have to play football with these guys!" So they did. Michael remembers watching his beloved Rocky 3 with Chris in his trailer. The trailer was hot so they were stripped down to their boxers and lying on Michael's bed (!) The movie had reached an emotional moment when a Production Assistant walked in, saw two half-naked, weeping men on the bed together, and quickly rushed away!

Michael was asked if he could play another character on SV, who would it be? He thinks Lex is the best character but as a runner-up, chose "Arrow Guy." He commented on Justin's amazing body and said he'd nicknamed him "Bondage Boy" because of his leather suit. Laura was asked if Michael was a cut-up on set. She said "he does what he's doing right now!" (Which was holding his iphone up to the microphone to play "Safety Dance".) He also very much likes the sound of pouring water in front of the microphone.

A fan dressed as Superman requested a "Kneel Before Zod!" from Michael. He got what Michael called the "Rosenbaum version" instead: "Sit the Hell down!" Two women asked discreetly worded Clex questions. "Given how intense the relationship was between Clark & Lex in the finale, where would they go from there?" Michael said it could only get deeper and more intense. He still thinks a Smallville movie would be a good idea and would be happy to play Lex on the big screen if he is asked.

The other Clex questioner asked if Lex was jealous of Clark and Lana. Michael said he'd been sometimes uncomfortable paired with Kristin, feeling too old for her "especially if I got aroused in love scenes!" (Quickly clarified that was a joke!) He said "the two Pretty people belonged together" and talked about poor lonely Lex at the manor, bribing Clark to hang out with him. "Want a truck?....No?" "How about some cash?"

A fan asked about working with John Glover. Michael told his favourite JG story, how John taught him to touch other actors; how this startled him at first, but then he started to enjoy it and got very hands-on with Tom. "Clark.....Clark!" (As usual, petting Chris to demonstrate.) Another fan asked how a funny guy like Michael was able to access Lex's emotions; Michael made a gentle reference to his own less than ideal childhood and said he was able to draw on that.

The day before the panel, I'd asked Michael to sign a 'cap from Shattered, saying how great an episode it was. In the panel, Michael cited "Hourglass" and "Shattered" as two of his favourites, especially the moment when the car hits Clark and Lex looks into his eyes and knows. Chris cited the pilot as his favourite, saying he was very impressed and in fact, watched it again before the finale. Joe chose "Exile", sparking a Michael rant about the producers making him wax his chest. "They always wanted me shirtless, the Pervs!" (Put me in that club!)

There was a leak of some unspecified nature during Michael's panel and he was told to keep us all in the room with him - SO not a problem! And while talking about how loyal fans are, Michael unexpectedly mentioned a few of us by name, which was a very sweet surprise.

On Friday during autographs, Michael was excited that Jefferson Starship was playing on Saturday. (They were, but not their hits - it was some combo of DCon written songs and Bladerunner score.) I wanted to go but it was at midnight & I was headachey so took a pass. miss_mcelroy, fruitbat00 and netlynn went and said "Hi!" to Michael.

Michael groused in the next day's panel that the band hadn't played their '80's hits. No "We Built this City!" The next night, the band played again, their 60's hits this time. As they were reaching the encore, complicat said "Is that Chris?" Sure enough, it was, and the crowds parted to reveal Michael happily dancing onstage to "Volunteers". I was too sleepy to zoom, but here's the Rosen-head through the crowds :)

Oh, and Michael did his own photo op with the Back to the Future cast and posted it on twitter! ♥http://yfrog.com/nw72ufj